How do you store cockles ?

[richarddickw 0]

For many years I have been collecting my own cockles at Goolwa and freezing them without any problems. Some of last years cockles however when thawed were in poor condition with some having turned yellow and as hard as leather.What went wrong ?.. feedback on how you store cockles would be appreciated.Thinking of salting them this year. Feedback from anyone who salts cockles prior to freezing for storing would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance for responses.

[trihull 177]

In a trust-worthy mates freezer.................... :woohoo: hope that they are still there.....................

[Knackers 696]

Some of last years cockles

That is your problem. Last year or last seaon? Cockles, like everything, has a shelf life in the freezer. They will be better though if you can freeze them down really quickly.Did you have any power outages? They may have semi-thawed.After I defrost my frozen cockles I always shell the remainder and salt them down. I still have some that are 18 months old that are fine to use. They stay in a boat in a jar for emergencies. I don't notice the difference in their fish catching abilities although they do shrink so maybe need two - three on a hook sometimes.

[jackblack86 5]

portion them up in a snap lock bag or preferably a vac seal bag as they'll last that much longer!

[Underpants 1,543]

As JB86 says, zip locked in small amounts when fresh so you dont have to defrost too much at once. Bags are nice and thick so dont split or get cut up as easily.Agree with Knackers too; once defrosted they salt down really well & then stay on the hooks better than your frozen ones.

[Ben 10 0]

I like to salt them in my esky for a couple of hours after i collect them with a $6 bag of pool salt and only enough water to make a slurry.Then I vac pack them with as little water as possible but pleanty of the salt i.e. 1/3rd of the bag is salt. You will find that with time the cockles will brine and turn a little yellow and toughen up BUT the whiting absolutely LOVE them and my hook up rate has improved due to the fact that they cant just suck the cockle off and I believe they like the taste/smell.The cockles never stink they just smell like the brine and I dont even refrigerate them when I go away for a weekend, I just pull them out of the freezer and use what I need for the weekend and if there is any left over in sealed bags still I refreeze them again and they seem to improve even more and the fish go crazy for it! Like anything though much past a year and a half and they may not be quite as appealing but I guess only take what you need during the cockle season to see you through to the next season to avoid this problem. Cheers